Shot through the Heart-or Chest Rather
by Rommel1942
Summary: When Pyrrha hurls her spear to save Jaune from death by gravity, her aim falters and she ends up impaling him to a tree through the chest, severely crippling him for the duration of the initiation. This creates a chain reaction of events, and, to pull from a scientific theory, the butterflies start to flap their wings.
1. Chapter 1

Shot Through the Heart… or Chest Rather

Chapter 1: Hanging on the Edge

Pyrrha scanned the sky for her goofy crush, easily spotting him as he tumbled through the sky in what very well could have been the exact opposite of graceful. Suddenly, a panicked thought entered her mind.

 _"What if he can't figure out a way to land? What if he dies? What do I do?"_ In a sudden act of desperation she converted her rifle to its spear form and hurled it at Jaune, aiming for the hood of his jacket. She calculated his landing trajectory then silently prayed to whatever gods ruled over Remnant that he would be okay before she rushed off.

* * *

Meanwhile

Jaune, after one of his shouts of terror, heard a curious whistling sound and oriented his body to get a better look at… whatever it was. Suddenly, a streak of crimson plunged right into his chest, a loud "thunk" resounding as it punctured his chest armor. The momentum altered his course, resulting in him getting impaled on a tree. For several minutes, Jaune's mind was too overwhelmed with pain to think; his arms were desperately trying to get the red-gold shaft in his chest to budge, but it wouldn't move. After a few minutes, his mind calmed down enough to let him think rationally, or as rationally as someone with half of their oxygen supply cut off, as he soon realized the… whatever it was-had impaled him through his rib cage and into his right lung and out his back. The pain of breathing was only matched by the pain his top right rib, a part of the body that was never meant to be load bearing in such a way. He tried to yell for help, but he couldn't find the breath or the energy to do so. Remembering that you're not supposed to remove objects that have impaled you due to the increased risk of blood loss, he shifted his arms to hold his body up the best he could, assisting his broken rib. He got into as comfortable a position as possible, his eyes squinting and his mouth grimaced from pain. All he could focus on right now was staying alive.

Pyrrha's breath hitched as she caught sight of her desired partner, her mind stopping as she took in the scene. There was Jaune Arc, suspended about five meters in the air via her spear through his chest. Once her mind caught up with reality, it went into overdrive trying to figure out a solution to the current predicament. He had apparently passed out; the red trail creeping below him indicating it was probably due to blood loss. She suddenly started panicking when she realized he could very well have gone into shock.

Thinking quickly, she unslung her shield, Akoúo̱, and used her magnetic semblance to levitate it into the air, right below Jaune's feet. She then used her semblance to "grab" Miló and very carefully get it out of the tree, meanwhile making sure it didn't adjust too much within Jaune to preserve as much blood as possible. When he started lean over as the spear was being moved, she took hold of his chest armor to ensure he remained stable. Sweat started to build up on her brow and the strain of using her semblance in such an intensive way started to take hold, but she couldn't afford to give up of Jaune. She winced as the last of the Miló left the tree, revealing that it was halfway inside of Jaune. Slowly, she drifted him down so that he was leaning sideways into the tree, some of his blood getting into his blond hair and cloths. Once she was satisfied he wouldn't fall over, she ran over to him and sat him down, making sure not to move her spear, lest she aggravate the wound and cause more bleeding.

She quickly checked Jaune's vitals, finding that his pulse was dangerously low and his breathing was very labored. She searched through a pouch on her hip for medical supplies, and was relieved to find some gauze, disinfectant, and painkillers. She was about to begin treating Jaune when a growling noise emanated from behind her. She quickly spun around to meet the gaze of an Ursa.

Pyrrha quickly readied Akoúo̱, just in time to receive a massive swipe from the large Grimm. She rolled under a second one and slashed at the Ursa's back with the point of her shield. The beast roared with rage before quickly spinning around for another swipe, but the girl was already on its other side. Pyrrha quickly remembered that Jaune had a sword and ran over to him and unsheathed the blade, then instinctively blocked the Ursa's next strike. Seeing an opening, she plunged the blade into the Grimm's throat, ending it. Pyrrha then fell to her knees, utterly exhausted, but she quickly shook it off, remembering someone was teetering between life and death.

Taking up the gauze, she covered a section in disinfectant, then carefully pulled Miló from Jaune's chest. She tossed the blood soaked spear to the side as she took off Jaune's armor and hoody. Blood was still freely flowing from both wounds as she started wrapping the gauze around his chest. When she was sure the tightness was just right she backed up to observe for anything else that would need treating. It was then that Jaune started coughing, sizable amounts of blood flying out of his mouth as he did so.

* * *

Jaune's vision slowly faded in, but when he was refocused, he was preoccupied by the red headed angel standing over him, despite the massive pain in his chest. He coughed several times, more pain erupting as he did so, but that was good, he supposed, that meant he was still alive.

"Water," he weakly mumbled out, barely louder than a whisper. The girl quickly started looking through a pouch on her side before pulling out a bottle. She crouched down and unscrewed the lid then tilted the opening over his mouth. She let him drink about half the bottle before closing it. She saw him wince and move a hand over his chest so she handed him a couple of painkillers. He swallowed the pills then, after a deep breath, attempted to stand. Pyrrha was there the moment he faltered to let him down gently.

"Hey, hey, you need to let your aura heal you before we move on." Jaune gave a downcast look and shook his head."C-Can't, not active." He coughed out more blood. Pyrrha gave responded with a confused look, scrunching her brow.

"You're aura isn't activated?" Jaune weakly shook his head. Pyrrha then took a deep breath and adopted a determined smirk. "Well I guess now or never." She kneeled down to Jaune's face and placed a hand on the left side of his cheek. She then uttered the sacred words of activation. "For it is in passing that we achieve immortality, through this we become a paragon of virtue and glory to rise above all. Infinite in distance and unbound by death, I release your soul, and by my shoulder, protect thee." A great pulse of white energy started to emanate from Jaune, and the blood flow from his back and chest started to slow until it stopped completely. "W-Wow, you have a lot of aura."

"Well, I guess at least I have that going for me." Jaune chuckled weekly before wincing in pain. Pyrrha then offered him a hand, which he gladly took, and, rather shakily, got on his feet.

"Be careful, okay? You aura can seal wounds and should increase you blood production, but it can't reset bone or re-inflate lungs." She then took his left arm and slung it over her shoulder. "Let's get out of here together, partner." Despite almost killing her love interest, Pyrrha had a good feeling. With the Mistrali Champion holding up the inexperienced Knight, they slowly, but surely, got on their way to the relics.


	2. Chapter 2

Quick AN: Concerning team Cardinal. I really don't like those four guys for two reasons: one, they're bad people and bullies, and two, their poorly written charicters made specifically to be jerks. That being said, I'm going to change up their characters a little bit. I personally like to treat fanfictions as a scientific experiment where you have to change as few variables as possible, but this is something I would like to do and I feel it would help the direction of the story. Also, sorry for short chapters; that theme will probably continue because I have a problem with writing in volume.

Without further ado, please enjoy.

Chapter 2

The chirping of birds could be heard in the forest, a lovely breeze began to blow, and Jaune was in no position to enjoy either of these things as he was struggling to breathe with an immense amount of chest pain.

"Cough, cough!" "Pyrrha, I-I need to rest for a moment." He winced and clutched his chest with his right arm despite the pain involved in moving it, his left arm draped over his partner. Pyrrha brought him over to a tree and gently let him down. He leaned back with his eyes closed and coughed a few times, a few flecks of blood still leaving his lungs. Pyrrha, while scanning the area for any possible threats, unclasped her water bottle and handed to Jaune. He took a few sips before offering it back to Pyrrha, but she had her rifle shouldered and was focused on the path they just came from. Turning her weapon to its sword form then sheathing it, she turned back to Jaune.

"I'm not sure, but I've got the feeling we're being followed; I swear I heard some footsteps and I've just got this feeling… Oh thanks!" She grabbed her bottle and took a deep gulp.

"Hey, I should be thanking you, that's not even my water, heh…" "Eurgh." Jaune shut his eyes and clutched at his chest again. Pyrrha then heard a twig break behind her and she turned around to be greeted by a pack of Beowulves.

"Jaune, we need to move. Now." Jaune snapped his head to Pyrrha, then to their guests. Suddenly, he was scooped up by the smaller woman bridle style and hauled off at breakneck speeds. He was over taken by a feeling of surprise before he could quite register what was going on.

Pyrrha, meanwhile, was focused on using her aura to assist her legs in running ahead of the gaining pack of Grimm. She could feel her aura levels dropping dangerously low, but she had to get out of there lest they be made Grimm food. She could practically feel their warm breath on the back of her neck, and the veritable torrent of steps behind her indicated they were very outnumbered.

She ran for at least five minutes, until they finally reached a clearing with a stone structure in the middle of it; there was a group of other initiates clustered around the structure, causing her to feel a rush of relief. Once she was a few yards out of the dense foliage of the forest, she collapsed, and Jaune was subsequently flung forward. Jaune, who landed on his front, was greeted with more pain in his chest, and used his arms to hold up his body and to get a better look of his surroundings. Pyrrha lay a few feet away from him, face down and presumably passed out, and there was a mass of black silhouettes with piercing red eyes in the tree line. Jaune turned his head to see four other boys with puzzled expressions on their faces before one of the beowulves leapt out of the foliage and towards Pyrrha. After exchanging a quick glance, they rushed into action. One of the boys was armed with a combination of sword and rifle, and he used his weapon to incapacitate the Beowulf that had rushed ahead. The other three formed a rough defensive perimeter around Jaune and Pyrrha.

"Just when I thought we were done you had to say something about a lack of action." The large boy in the middle, armed with a wicked looking mace, said to the boy to his right, armed with a halberd.

"Hey, I'm not complaining, I really was starting to get bored." The boy on the left, armed with two daggers "harrumphed".

"Sky, Cardin, would you guys cool it? I would like to get out of here with all of my limbs intact if you wouldn't mind focusing on the task at hand." The other two rolled their eyes before several more Beowulves leapt out. As the trio rushed to meet them, Jaune struggled to stand up. He managed to get on one knee when a hand extended from his left. He gladly took it and grunted as he stood up, the noises of combat emanating from the background.

"Th' name's Dove Bronzewing. Pleasure to meet you." The boy gave a friendly smile as Jaune got his bearings.

"Cough." "Jaune Arc. " "Cough." "Thanks for the save, it was looking pretty grim back there." Jaune winced again as he grabbed his chest, still hurt from his initial wounds. He turned to look at the rest of the group to see the large one with the mace sending a sideways swing into the skull of a Beowulf, causing a loud crack to resound through the area. After taking a moment to spit on the Grimm's corpse, he clasped his weapon to his belt.

"I think we convinced them we're not worth the trouble, but we should get moving; it won't be long before they assemble a couple more packs to try and overwhelm us." He walked over to Jaune and offered a hand which Jaune gladly shook. "Cardin Winchester, son of Orville Winchester." Jaune recognized him as one of the major families of Remnant, so he straightened up and returned the greeting.

"Jaune Arc, son of Jonah Arc." Cardin nodded, seemingly content with the significance of Jaune's surname. He then gestured to the remaining two boys.

"The one with the mohawk is Russel Thrush and the one with the long hair is Sky Lark" They both waved and Jaune waved back. "And as I was saying, we need to get a move on."

"I'll carry Pyrrha, my unconscious partner. Cardin, I suggest you take point with Sky on the left flank and Dove on the right. Russel should take the rear." Jaune wasn't quite sure where that nugget of tactical wisdom came from but he ignored it. Cardin seemed to consider the plan for a moment.

"Wait, you're the injured one. Shouldn't one of us carry her?" Jaune shook his head.

"I'll manage, and besides, I'm in no condition to fight," (he left out the part of not being able to fight in the first place) "You all need to maintain combat effectiveness so you can manage escorting what amounts to dead weight." Carding nodded in understanding.

"Seems reasonable enough. All right, you heard the man: Move out!


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Jaune was struggling to maintain pace with his wounds and Pyrrha draped over his shoulders, but he did the best he could to ignore the pain. Labored breathing and the occasionally coughing fit accompanied with blood was still a problem, but he pushed on for his partner's sake. He took a moment to observe the three boys in front of him in a vague wedge formation as he suggested. Cardin appeared to be quite confident, almost strutting through the forest, not visibly concerned with the prospect of running into more hostiles; his mace was clasped onto his belt. To his left, Sky was noticeably stressed, his head darting between every small noise, his halberd following his gaze. Dove, on the other hand, looked as if he was right where he was supposed to be, moving in a confident but not cocky march and periodically shifting his head to make sure there were no hidden foes. His sword was in his right hand, at the ready should he need to slash out at a would-be assailant.

Cardin apparently heard Jaune's troubled breathing and noticed Sky's apprehension, so he started up a conversation.

"So Sky, what'd you do before coming to Beacon?" Sky stopped glancing around and his brow scrunched in thought.

"Well, there's not much t'say honestly. I'm from a long family of farmers and homesteaders. My older brother is set to inherit the farm, not that I'm bitter or anything, he was just born first s'all. So, I decided I'd try and make a name for myself and become a hunter. My family scrounged up enough money to send me to Aurora Academy and I was able to perform well enough to get here. How 'bout you Cardin? What's your story?" He shifted his halberd to have it rest on his right shoulder. Cardin meanwhile scratched his chin.

"I'm the first son of Orville Winchester, CEO of Aerial Dynamics. If you don't know what that is, and I don't really expect you to honestly, it's not exactly a household name-but I digress- it's currently the largest aerospace tech producer in Remnant. You know the Dust plane we rode in on? Aerial Dynamics. The Bullheads used in most Hunter forces on Remnant? Aerial Dynamics. The Griffon Assault VTOL popular with the Atlas military? Aerial Dynamics." He scratched the back of his head before continuing. "Being raised under one of the richest people in Remnant affords quite the few privileges; for instance, my father hired a slew of experts to tutor me in everything from how to make small talk to un-armed combat. Can't say it was the most pleasant lifestyle, despite the luxury." Sky gave him a puzzled look and Cardin raised his hand defensively. "There was a lot expected of me, being the heir to a major company and all. Those lessons culminated into being able to make the entrance requirements for Beacon without having attended combat school. My dad apparently thought it would be a good character building experience; he himself also went to Hunter school." Sky nodded, content with his story. He then turned to Dove.

"Dove, you ain't but said all of ten words since we met. What's yer story?" Dove left his trance-like state of focus and turned to look at Sky. He had a confused look on his face as his mind caught up with the conversation.

"Soldiering has been in my family for generations, and my dad liked to teach my brother and I discipline from an early age, always making sure we were physically fit and teaching us sword fighting; he wanted us to be ready to take whatever life threw at us. When my brother was old enough, he joined the Valeian Guard. I however, was engrossed with the stories of Hunters, thinking of them as super heroes almost." Dove broke into a few chuckles before composing himself. "I was so worried about telling my father that I wanted to be a Hunter, thinking he would disown me or some such. When I finally worked up the courage, he said, and I will always remember his words, 'Good for you.' With the military training my father basically raised me on, I was well prepared for the entrance requirements of Beacon." Cardin, a little after the end of Dove's story, called out to Russell.

"How about you Russell? You're the last one who hasn't talked that's in the position to do so." Russell leaned to the side to see past Jaune, and then started speaking.

"I'm in the same boat as Sky, not much to say. I'm the oldest of six and I wanted to make sure my siblings would have a safe world to grow up in. I trained my ass off to get a free ride through Beacon, my family isn't exactly the most well off, and I made it through there to find myself here."

Jaune felt a little ashamed of faking his transcripts after having heard Sky and Russell's stories. They worked hard to get to Beacon while Jaune just met the right person at the right place and time and he didn't experience much hardship, his family being rather well off. His thoughts were interrupted by shouts coming from Russell.

"The Beowulves are back! We got to move!" Jaune, in a lapse of judgment, stopped to turn around, only to see the hoard of Grimm racing towards them. The group all broke into a mad dash. Jaune whose aura was subconsciously assisting him, was managing to keep up with the other four despite his injuries and carrying Pyrrha. The deranged growls of the Grimm could be heard behind them. Strangely enough, as they rushed forward to what looked like the edge of the forest, the sound of combat was starting to get louder in front of them. When they finally broke the tree line, they were greeted with a view of a battle between six other initiates and a Nevermore. Before any of them had a chance to shout out to the other group, two of them, a girl with a hammer and a boy with two pistols, were launched across a chasm that was separating the battle from them. Jaune and friends ran over to the cliff's edge to a ruined bridge. Jaune then put Pyrrha down and turned to face the others.

"We can make a stand here; the ruins offer a good choke point to focus our defense." He was about to give out a few orders when the girl with the hammer jumped in front of him.

"Hi! I'm Nora, and this is my bff Ren! Pleasure to meet you!" A large grin was carved on her face and she was apparently struggling to stand still. Ren, the boy with the two pistols, was caught in a bear hug curtesy of Nora.

"I-er-well-Hi? I'm Jaune."

"Sorry about Nora, she can be a handful." He took a moment to get free of her embrace.

"Hey, uh, Nora and Ren right? We were being chased by several packs of Beowulves and we could use a hand holding the line and all…" He trailed off as he peered into the forest where the veritable swarm of Grimm could be seen lurking in the shadows. The four boys he met earlier had formed a defensive line along the choke point, about ten meters between each of them.

"Nora's hammer is also a grenade launcher and my pistols also function as knives for melee combat." Ren apparently fully understood what Jaune was getting at.

"Ah, well that's great. Nora."

"Eee-yes?"

"I need you to hang back and blast groups of the Grimm whenever you see them."

"Okay!" She shifted hammer just in time for three Beowulves to jump out of the forest. She immediately fired a torrent of explosives at them, laughing with maniacal glee as she did so. The laughing caused Cardin, Sky, Dove, and Russell to turn around with horrified looks on their faces. Jaune was shocked into silence. The Beowulves seemed to consider whether or not this meal was worth it.

"Well, that's a thing that happened…." Jaune took a moment to compose himself. "Dove! I need you to hang back and hit any Beowulves that threaten the flanks with your rifle and assist any side that looks to be pressured too heavily."

"Can do." Dove fell out of the line and Sky and Cardin shifted to close the gap.

"Ren, I need you to do the same. He nodded and got behind Cardin and Russell. Jaune then drew his sword with his left hand and awkwardly held it at the ready. _"Better to have a sword in my off hand than no sword."_

After a few tense seconds, the Beowulves all leapt out as one and charged their position. Pockets were blasted to pieces by Nora's grenades and the group was thinned by the fire from Dove and Ren. Cardin was the first of the front line to take one down, delivering an upwards swing into the jaw of the lead Grimm. Russell was a whirlwind of blades as he cut into them with his daggers and Sky was keeping them at bay with vicious stabs and swings of his halberd. One was about to land a swipe on Russel but Dove was there to intercept it, severing the beast's arm before plunging his sword through its opened mouth. Russel was struggling to get his halberd free from a very dead Beowulf when another one leapt at him only to get a knife plunged straight through its skull. He and Ren exchanged nods before he wretched his weapon free.

With everyone fighting their own battles and Nora having a blast in a very literal sense of the word, no one but Jaune noticed a Beowulf leap over the frontline and make a beeline for Nora. Acting from instincts he didn't know he had he sprinted over to it and drove his sword into its flank mid pounce; it was so close to its target its body landed a mere foot from Nora. Jaune was about to recover his sword when a giant roar echoed throughout the area. He turned to a massive Beowulf that could give an Ursa a run for its money. After finishing its battle cry, the Alpha charged the center of their formation, straight at Cardin. It pounced and, by catching him unprepared, also knocked his mace out of his grip. Cardin struggled to keep its mouth away from his throat, his arms being coated in scars from its limbs. Jaune rushed towards the large Grimm and gripped it by the throat, lifting it off of Cardin, and slamming it on his back. With adrenaline coursing through his system dulling his pain and his aura aiding his strength and endurance, he started to punch the Grimm right in its armored face. The Alpha wasn't going to go down that easily however, and it bit Jaune's free arm, biting down hard. A "crack" indicated it broke bone, but the adrenaline in Jaune's system allowed him to ignore it. What he couldn't ignore was when the Alpha, still holding onto his arm, shook him off, its powerful neck sending him a couple feet away. After standing upright, it pounced on Jaune while he was on the ground, but he rolled out of the way just in time. He quickly stood up and kicked its front right leg at the elbow, causing it to fall over. He then used his left elbow to pin it to the ground as his right fist, coated in a hard layer of aura, started driving into the beast's face again. After a series of savage blows, the Alpha's skull caved in. Jaune then stood up, only to have all of the pain of his injuries to come crashing back to him. He fell backwards but was caught by the arms of the red haired angel he saw earlier and passed out.

Quick AN: for those of you who think that I made Jaune too strong in that last fight: I fully believe that the average human being is capable of similar a feat, without the aura of course. Adrenaline really is amazing stuff. Also, I theorize that due to the threat of Grimm from early in Humanity's history on Remnant, it is very possible that a few thousand more years in the arena of natural selection left Remnant Humans slightly hardier than Terra Humans.

Also, it seems I'm going to end up fleshing out the CRDL fellows quite a bit more than the series did.


	4. Chapter 4

**Hello all, sorry this update was slow in coming; I had school stuff to deal with. Concerning the matter of Aura's ability to heal, I feel it can only speed up the processes the body can do on its own: the body can mend its own cuts but an outside source is needed to inflate a lung or reset a bone. Also, bone mending takes a very long amount of time normally, so even if Aura could shorten that time considerably, I can't imagine it completely eliminating the recovery time. Also, please do correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think we've ever seen a character experience a serious injury on the show as that would give a nice bit of context.**

Chapter 4

Jaune slowly drifted back into consciousness, his vision blurring into focus as he cracked his eyes open, having them adjust to the light in the room. He felt rather comfortable, and when his eyes had adjusted, noticed a clean white ceiling and sheets on his body, so he guessed he was in some sort of medical facility. He was about to rub the crust from his eyes when he felt a dull pain from his chest and left arm. He turned his head to see a sling binding his arm to his chest. He did so with only his right arm as he peered around the room. There was a small table to his right with a glass of water on it. After rubbing his eyes he took a drink from the water, finding it still had ice in it so it must have been placed recently. After he placed the drink down, he jumped in his seat as a voice came from his left.

"I'm glad to see you awake and well Mr. Arc. You put up quite the show two days ago, and it would have been devastating to lose such a promising hunter so early in his life." Turning to face the man, Jaune saw Professor Ozpin taking a sip from his ever present coffee mug.

"P-Professor! Um-well, thanks, I guess." He scratched the back of his head with his free hand. Ozpin lowered his cup to speak again.

"Unfortunately you did miss the initiation ceremony, but I think you'll be pleased to know you have been put into the leadership of team Juniper, or JNPR. The Ren and Nora fellows you met before your final stand and of course you partner Pyrrha are all in your team. I must say, your propensity for tactical thinking I've not seen in these halls for at least two decades." Ozpin then stood up and did a small toast to Jaune with his mug. "I expect big things from you, Mr. Arc." Before Jaune could respond, partially from the shock of receiving the team lead and partially from Professor Ozpin's praise, he left the room. In his place entered a balled man with a black goatee and a doctor's coat. He had a clipboard and a pen in his hands and a stethoscope dangled from his neck. A playful grin was etched on his face.

"Ah, Mr. Arc, it seems you're recovering quite nicely. You had us worried for the first couple of hours there. Fluids were filling your chest cavity and you're left lung had collapsed in addition to a fractured rib. You're left radius and ulna were both broken as well, the latter was poking out of your skin I might add, and you were showing signs of shock when you got into my clinic. Nevertheless, we were able to fix your organs all up good as new." He stopped to scratch his goatee with his pen. "It should take five to ten days for your bones to heal so I do suggest taking it easy until then. Any questions?" Jaune took a moment to absorb all the new information.

"Uh, well, no sir. Thanks for the help doctor..."

"Felix. Doctor Medicus Felix. Was a pleasure saving your life, and I do hope I never have to see you again!" He gave a hearty chuckle at his own joke. "Now I do believe you have some visitors, so I'll leave you to it. Oh! And one last thing, you're cleared to leave whenever you're ready. Do get plenty of rest though, your aura works best when its allowed to do its job after all." With that he exited the room and three familiar faces entered in his stead.

"Yay! Fearless leader is better!" Nora sprinted into the room and made to leap onto Jaune with a hug of death but Ren was there to hold her back. Behind him Pyrrha stood; she had a warm smile on her face. Ren gave Jaunt a thumb up and a nod while Pyrrha got in front of group.

"It seems you returned the favor after my aura was depleted. You performed admirably during the following engagement." Her smile turned to a smirk. "Your sword work could use some work however."

"Ya, I guess I could learn a thing or two… Oh, the doc said I could go so whenever you all are ready." Nora became elated. She grabbed his free hand and tried to pull him out.

"Oh! We can show you our dorm then we can go eat then Ren can make some pancakes for desert; Ren makes the best pancakes!" At the mention of food Jaune's stomach made an impression of an Ursa. Pyrrha gave a small chuckle.

"I guess we could get lunch first, it is twelve after all."

The four had a little bit of small talk as they walked to the cafeteria; Nora was glad to give her rendition of Jaune's fight with the Alpha Beowulf. By the end of it Ren had corrected her about eight times.

Once they entered the cafeteria and had procured some food, today it was burgers, Pyrrha, Nora, and Ren lead their leader to their seat, right between teams CRDL and RWBY. Upon noticing the new arrivals, the two teams gave Jaune a small round of applause, a girl that Jaune vaguely recalled as Ruby's sister giving a "Whoop!" Jaune's face had grown a few shades redder by the end of it.

"Jaune! My man! Nice to see you well." Cardin motioned to have Jaune sit next to him. He plopped down his tray and took a seat before Cardin continued. "That was a fine, fine piece of work with that Grimm back there, saved my hide to boot!" Sky, who was on Cardin's left, partially stood up and slammed his hands on the table.

"Dude! I didn't catch it the first time on account of being preoccupied, but they released video footage of the initiation. You freakin' choke slammed an Alpha Beowulf and exploded its face in!" Jaune was thoroughly crimson by this point so he just gave a small, "Thanks," before starting on his burger. Cardin wasn't having any of it though.

"No need to be so modest man. You definitely deserved the leadership spot after what you showed out there."

Oh.

Ya.

A spike of guilt went through Jaune's mind, recalling how he faked his way into Beacon. It didn't last long as Pyrrha, who had sat down in between Jaune and a black haired girl Jaune couldn't recall meeting, spoke up. "After you passed out most of the other Beowulves broke and ran, probably because they lost their leader. A few didn't get the memo, and we had to act fast to make sure they didn't surround you, but it was a simple act. Though I was unconscious at the start, from what our classmates have told us your taking charge of the situation was what salvaged what really could have been a disastrous situation. I would estimate that at least five packs formed up for that attack from the footage." Jaune scratched the back of his head.

"Well, I couldn't have done it without these guys over here, he motioned towards CRDL, and Ren and Nora; they're the ones that really held the line, I was just in the back trying to look useful." Dove, who was across from Cardin, took this moment to join the conversation.

"Man, if trying to look useful for you is killing a Beowulf with serious injuries with a sword and then killing an Alpha Beowulf with serious injuries without a sword, then I'm afraid of what "actually useful" for you is." CRDL and NPR shared a laugh while Jaune was trying and failing to maintain his composure. Suddenly, a claxon signaled the end of lunch. As everyone was leaving, Cardin took the opportunity to get next to Jaune in the crowd. Jaune was busy following Pyrrha so he didn't notice Cardin until they were a good distance away from the cafeteria.

"Hey, if you need anything, don't hesitate to ask me. You saved me back there, and a Winchester always pays his debts." Before Jaune could get a reply in he'd broken off to his own dorm. Jaune just stood there awkwardly for a moment, letting everything that had just happened in the past hour sink in. Suddenly a hand was placed on his shoulder, which he soon found out belonged to Pyrrha.

"Come on Jaune, classes don't start until tomorrow so you should have plenty of time to get situated in our dorm. It's just a few more rooms down." It was then Jaune noticed team RWBY was accompanying them. Ruby perked up when their eyes met. She zipped over to him and wore a beaming smile on her face when she addressed him.

"Jaune! I'm glad you're better. That was pretty cool what you did." She was going to say something else when her sister joined the conversation.

"Ya, nice job vomit-boy, but you better watch yourself. Punching things is **my** job." She aggressively pointed to herself with her thumbs for emphasis. Jaune looked like he was going to piss himself, and Ruby looked like she was readying to stay her sister's wrath. "Pfft, lighten up people, it was a joke." She crossed her arms and Jaune sighed in relief.

"Thanks for the compliments, but really, it wasn't much, and sorry for cutting this short but, in spite of spending more than a day passed out, I am rather tired right now; a nap would do me good." Ruby and Yang said their good byes and JNPR entered their dorm. Jaun saw his luggage and sword sitting on a bed.

"I went ahead and put your stuff on your bed. Ren and Nora's are to the left and mine's to the right. Bathroom is to the left and-" Jaune had elected to not take a shower despite not having washed since before the initiation and had collapsed onto his bed, his stuff haphazardly tossed to the side. Pyrrha smiled at his sleeping form before opening her scroll to review their schedule.

 **Hoo boy, did writer's block hit during this chapter. These scenes did not want to be written, let me tell you. Anyway, so Cardin and CRDL are all bros with Jaune and he got to experience being man of the hour after his stint at the infirmary. Also couldn't resist that GoT reference. My version of CRDL will most likely go very ooc, but perhaps that okay since there's not much character to get out of in the first place. Also, some reviews would be nice; things like telling me what works and what doesn't would be greatly appreciated.**


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